Expert: Nation is on track for carbon target
China is on track to uphold commitments under the Paris climate accord, but some developed countries need to show their sincerity to push the ongoing dialogue forward, according to China’s top climate envoy.
“We are capable of achieving more than what we pledged in the Paris Agreement,” said Xie Zhenhua, China’s special representative on climate change. “The thing is, the Paris Agreement cannot be fulfilled without efforts from everyone within.”
Nearly 200 economies agreed in Paris in December 2015 to curb carbon dioxide emissions, with the aim of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050, compared with preindustrial levels.
Xie said China is likely to peak its carbon emissions ahead of the scheduled date of 2030 and will launch the national carbon trade market soon after receiving approval from the central government.
The preparation for opening of the market has entered the final phase, he said.
He said there is no need to negotiate anymore on raising China’s pledges during this year’s climate talks, as “all has been settled in the pact”.
“The key is to solve disputes across different allies,” he said.
Negotiators from nearly 200 parties gathered in Bonn, Germany, to hammer out details for implementing the Paris climate accord.
Major disputes have arisen between developed and developing countries as the talks
sound employment and stable consumer prices indicated that the overall economic performance remained in the “reasonable” territory, which laid a solid foundation for the country’s fulfillment of its whole-year economic target, Liu said at a news conference in Beijing.
The Chinese government has set the whole-year economic growth target at around 6.5 percent. The country already saw robust growth of 6.9 percent in the first three quarters.
Despite the moderate economic contraction in October, Qu Tianshi, an economist at ANZ Group, said he remained optimistic about China’s economic outlook as the government policy priority will focus on pushing reform and reducing economic leverage.
“Having that as the main policy theme in mind, a slower or faster growth rate doesn’t really matter that much as long as the data of corporate profit, employment and inflation remain in the reasonable range,” Qu said.
Chinese industrial enterprises reported total profit of 5.58 trillion yuan ($840 billion) in the first nine months of the year, up by 22.8 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 14.4 percentage-points faster than the same period of last year.
China’s urban unemployment rate dropped below 5 percent in October and the number of new jobs created in cities in the first 10 months stood at 11.9 million, already exceeding the whole-year target of 11 million, according to Liu, the NBS official.